New 12"/80s remix compilations

Universal Music’s TV advertised 12″/80s remix collections have been ongoing for nearly ten years now, and this autumn sees a pair of new compilations.

Since the original set that kicked off this series (in 2005) we’ve had triple CD releases themed around ‘Classics’, ‘Pop’ (with a cheeky Now That’s What I Call Music inspired cover), ‘Alternative’, ‘Love’ and ‘Club Classics’. In October this year we can add ‘Chilled’ and ‘New Wave’ to this growing list.
It has to be said, these subtitles need to be taken with a pinch of salt. If we look at some of the selections on the new 12″/80s Chilled you would have to say that there is nothing ‘chilled’ about Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero’s noisy, clanky dub remix of Tears For Fears‘ Shout for instance. There are quite a few dub mixes on this set actually, including Soft Cell‘s Tainted Dub/Where Did Our Love Go? as well as dub versions of Culture Club‘s Do You Want To Hurt Me and Hall & Oates‘ Out Of Touch. Dub mixes can be chilled affairs – like the work that came out of Compass Point Studios in the late seventies and early eighties (Grace Jones’ dub mixes are superb) – but it’s not always the case with pop dubs of the mid-eighties.

There’s are some really welcome selections though, including the ‘On The Fly’ mix of Malcolm McClaren‘s Madame Butterfly and the extended version of Crowded House‘s timeless Don’t Dream It’s Over. Elsewhere it’s the usual artists popping up. Not sure if anyone needs The Young Person’s Guide To The 12″ version of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Rage Hard and the second ‘remix’ twelve-inch of Swing Out Sister‘s Surrender – the Roadrunner Mix – is definitely more chilled (and rarer) than the familiar Stuff Gun Mix which is what they’ve included here.

Moving on to the second set, ‘New Wave’is a fairly big bucket in which to chuck your selections and there’s nothing too surprising included in truth. Duran Duran, Simple Minds, Ultravox, Talk Talk, The Human League, Heaven 17all make an appearance. Tears For Fears are back, this time with the twelve-inch version of a song most casual fans probably don’t know exists The Way You Are (it’s a grower).

You could argue that part of the fun of these releases is the fact that they spark off debate about what should have, and could have, been included, but perhaps more contentious than track selections is the pricing. There was a time when £15 for three CDs of 1980s twelve-inch mixes seemed like a great deal, but Sony’s recent Pure 80s Remixes FOUR CD set of similar content retails for only £5 – a third of the price with a third more content. In fact, Universal’s own recent Extended 80s three-CD collection (the one with the unreleased version of Peter Gabriel‘s Sledgehammer) is also only £5.

Universal will be hoping the 12″/80s ‘brand’ and the excellent retro artwork will make a difference and encourage fans to cough up. Let’s here what you think – leave a comment and let me know.

Hopefully these two editions are mejoresen sound quality than earlier, since most of the songs are remastered from the original, but the vinyl record 12″ inches. Asi also hopefully the Blue Nile song” Stay “is the version Original 12” inches and it is the only new song on a recopilatoirio as the others have already been published in other collections or original cd. Its price is also quite high because other companies have released compilations less than half the price.

@Seth Hollander
You can find the complete Rage Hard “Young person’s guide to the 12” on “The Art of the 12” volume one issued on 2011 by Salvo.
The version on “Reload” is an early fade: it omits the last two minutes of the song (not the early ones)

12inches in the 80s contained the a side , and often 2 tracks on the b side, usually the b side contained another mix, i would like to see a compilation using that other mix if would be something different and would help a lot of people complete certain groups etc.

I think these are too expensive for what they have to offer. I have a substantial amount of these 12-Inches already. For let’s say up to £10 I would get them for the few items I don’t have but for these prices I’ll pass this time.

Would be interested in any confirmation that the Blue Nile Stay remix is actually the 12″ mix from August 1984. As I recall this was the same length as the album version and there was also a 7″ edit of the remix, available separately and as a double 7″ with Tinseltown in the Rain.

I never buy any of these compilations because they are all pretty much the same as the last. And the remastering is not new, it’s cobbled together from previously remastered sources, whether good or bad. The last compilation series I purchased was the Just Can’t Get Enough, New Wave Hits of the 80’s, and that was 20 years ago. Now that was what you would call variety.

Ok, I have to ask:
“Not sure if anyone needs The Young Person’s Guide To The 12″ version of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Rage Hard “.
I have this on vinyl (US 12”) but have not seen it on CD except on the Reload collection. According to Wikipedia, that CD drops the first 2 minutes of the track. Plus that CD has a bunch of more recent remixes that I have less-than-zero interest in.
So where else can I find a CD with that mix, and complete? Waiting for a comp with that particular track is one of the main reasons I check your site daily!

The first few 12″/80s comps were a breath of fresh air when they came out, debuting on CD many rare and desirable mixes…but these new discs seem content with rehashing a ton of stuff that have been on CD for years :(

I’m glad that we’re getting Fashion’s Move On (Audio Extra) first time ever on cd on 12″/80s New Wave. Wonder if it’s from the master tapes or a vinyl rip? Either way I’m all of the New Wave collection. Not too sure about the chilled one.

I don’t know about anyone else but as Mike The Fish says, too much vinyl ripping on some of these compilations has left me sceptical and bitterly disappointed in the past. I’m afraid much as I love the extended eighties stuff I will leave it to someone else to invest first. One of the few that I can trust to do a compilation correctly is Ben Liebrand and his Grand 12 inches” series.

I wonder if you can crowd fund an actual eighties compilation that has tracks that people actually want?

Looked at these with interest until I saw the price, at £5 per disc with few new/notable (I will be interested in hearing the duration of the Blue Nile!) tracks I can’t see that much to persuade me to part with my readies!!

I personally think their remastering is a notch above any others. As an example, check out 12″/80s/Dance (probably their best set IMO). Dead or Alive, Level 42 and Swing out sister are all on that set. Those 12″ mixes – all brilliant – have been remastered on other deluxe editions over the years. But the remastering on 12″/80s/Dance is definitive – outstanding.

I think what sets them apart is that they try to preserve the mastering from the original 12″ single. The best vinyl 12″ mixes have been mastered differently than cd albums because they have to work for DJs and dance floors. I think 12″/80s try to emulate that in their approach.

There aren’t enough China Crisis remixes on CD, but Working with Fire and Steel was one of them. I’m not sure about the extended version of Christian… I’m not even sure if the extended is different than the album mix!

Also, along with China Crisis’ remixes and b-sides, The Blue Nile’s much smaller catalog also has some painful digital holes in it. I think this remix of Stay is indeed previously unavailable on CD, and thus very welcome!

I was really excited about these 2 boxsets until I discovered I had most the 12″ versions on other albums! Either compilations or album reissues. So, two 12″/80s CD Sets I will not be bothering with despite having bought all the others.

Having not heard what the source and quality is on these new releases, I am pretty sure there were questions about sources from earlier titles in the series.
Certainly to my old ears “POP” and “ELECTRO POP” had both vinyl sources on some tracks, and listings for extended or twelve inch versions, when in fact you had a single version.
Let’s hope the researcher/compiler has brought their A game this time.

What is the running time of the “Stay” 12″? The single version is just under 4 mins, the extended remix I have runs roughly the same time as the album version. The album version was always my favourite.

If the version of “Stay (Remix)” by The Blue Nile on 12″/80s New Wave is the 12″ version and not the 7″ version that was on the recent reissue of Walk across the Rooftops, I think we’ve got ourselves a new rarity to CD.

@jeremy – yes Tainted Dub has been on cd before (it was included on their singles box set and Twelve Inch Singles set released years ago.) great mix though.

I do agree that these two collections don’t quite hit the mark as much as prior outings. It’s a tough decision for them as they have always tried to balance rarities (for our tastes, of course) with commercial appeal. These sets need to have a mix of both to be viable in the marketplace.

Sure, they are more expensive but, at this point, 12″/80s is a brand name and they can command a higher price than most. Possible licensing costs also are a factor?

Tracklisting aside, the reason to purchase them comes down to remastering alone. As a 12″ connoisseur, I have personally never found any deluxe edition for any artist to have better remastering techniques than 12″/80s. They just seem to know exactly how to do it by accentuating certain bass elements and sharpening sounds here and there. Compare their work side by side with any other remaster and you’ll hear what I’m referring to.

Interesting point about the remastering. Wasn’t aware that these were held in high regard. I assume both Thompson Twins tracks won’t be the brand new 2014 remasters that were created for my Remixes & Rarities compilation…. don’t know what the ‘rules’ are in terms of when they license stuff out.

I have to say, I looked at these slightly sceptically; feeling that the “12 Inch 80s” brand had “sold out”.
As you said, there are some interesting tracks on the discs, one of note for me was the “Dub” version of Tainted Love, which I’m not certain has been available before on CD (I am fully prepared to be proved wrong however).

I tried a little experiment with these discs, feeling that there was little new on them. I went back through all my old CD collections, and tried to “recreate” the track listings from previous collections, thus saving myself £17… Results were mixed.

For the “Chilled” collection, it was pretty disappointing really, out of the 30 odd tracks I managed to find only a single one that I had not already got on some previous collection (Mari Wilson), needless to say, I don’t think I’ll bother with £17 just for a single track.

Onto the New Wave, and it got a bit more interesting, I could not account for about 30% of the tracks, and thus have pre-ordered this one.

In conclusion, I feel slightly disappointed that there does not seem to be the same care and love for the series that the original sets contained, and I agree with Paul that there seemed to be a pretty loose brief for the compliers, and perhaps the “Chilled” set should have been called “Dub versions”, then it could have had Pete Shelley’s Homosapien on it… now that would be something.

I think they look pretty good, i will buy them. There’s enough stuff here that hasn’t been on umpteen other collections. That said there is also a lot of play safe standards (probably for commercial reasons). All in all not bad .